Where to Dive in Grand Turk

[Socref124]

We are certified divers that will be going on the Freedom April 19th. Where are some good reputable companies and places to dive in Grand Turk and St Thomas? Also, do you recommend the Carnival excursion or booking our own excursion? Any help and suggestions will be highly appreciated..:)

[scubaran]

We are certified divers that will be going on the Freedom April 19th. Where are some good reputable companies and places to dive in Grand Turk and St Thomas? Also, do you recommend the Carnival excursion or booking our own excursion? Any help and suggestions will be highly appreciated..:)

 

Hi,

 

Without a doubt, on Grand Turk, Blue water divers! I've dove with them twice and they're great. Monica is the office manager and you can e-mail her from their website, http://www.grandturkscuba.com/, and she can get you hooked up. Mitch Rollings is the owner/operator, and part time singer in the local band, and he runs a boat with no more than 8 divers (the boat couldn't hold more than that). To get there you get a taxi at the cruise port and ask them to drop you off at the Osprey Beach Hotel (about 5 minutes away and $5 for the taxi). The dive shop is in the front of the hotel (don't go to the shack off the road painted with a dive flag, wrong company). Monica will meet you there, get your c-card, payment, etc. and when it's time, walk you across the street to the beach where Mitch will pull up in the boat to get you. After diving, Mitch drops you off at the beach and you can walk up and flag down a taxi along the road (they come about every 5 minutes) or have Monica call you one if you don't want to wait. Our cruise ship was docked both times from 8am-2pm and I had plenty of time to get there dive and return. Besides, not much else on Grand Turk and the diving's great! If you go ask if you can do McDonalds (a reef with a swim through arch) and Anchor (a reef with a 18th century anchor still embedded in the reef (see the photo).

 

Hope this helped,

Randall

 

P.S. tell Monica that Randall from November said Hi!

 

[Socref124]

Hi,

 

Without a doubt, on Grand Turk, Blue water divers! I've dove with them twice and they're great. Monica is the office manager and you can e-mail her from their website, http://www.grandturkscuba.com/, and she can get you hooked up. Mitch Rollings is the owner/operator, and part time singer in the local band, and he runs a boat with no more than 8 divers (the boat couldn't hold more than that). To get there you get a taxi at the cruise port and ask them to drop you off at the Osprey Beach Hotel (about 5 minutes away and $5 for the taxi). The dive shop is in the front of the hotel (don't go to the shack off the road painted with a dive flag, wrong company). Monica will meet you there, get your c-card, payment, etc. and when it's time, walk you across the street to the beach where Mitch will pull up in the boat to get you. After diving, Mitch drops you off at the beach and you can walk up and flag down a taxi along the road (they come about every 5 minutes) or have Monica call you one if you don't want to wait. Our cruise ship was docked both times from 8am-2pm and I had plenty of time to get there dive and return. Besides, not much else on Grand Turk and the diving's great! If you go ask if you can do McDonalds (a reef with a swim through arch) and Anchor (a reef with a 18th century anchor still embedded in the reef (see the photo).

 

Hope this helped,

Randall

 

P.S. tell Monica that Randall from November said Hi!

 

Fabulous pic, Thx. And thanks for the info. We are in Grand Turk from 11-5:30. I hope we can do something with him. Sounds real good.

[scubaran]

Fabulous pic, Thx. And thanks for the info. We are in Grand Turk from 11-5:30. I hope we can do something with him. Sounds real good.

 

 

I seem to remember they had an afternoon dive at 12:00 or 12:30. Check with Monica. Also on their website they have a FAQ which includes cruise passenger information.

 

Randall

[bruce-r]

Without a doubt, on Grand Turk, Blue water divers! ....

I agree with Randall.

 

For St. Thomas I like http://www.admiraltydive.com

[ReadytoDive]

I am going with a group for a weddding, and I KNOW that I am the only diver. I was doing some research and came accross this blog.

 

I am planning to do some diving in Turks so if you two are interested maybe we can go together since I will be alone?

 

Let me know...

 

Adam R.

First Cruise, 4th Dive.

[ReadytoDive]

Check my post below!

[turtlegirl2]

Socref, please post an update when you return from your April 19th cruise and who you ended up diving with at Grand Turk. We will be there in June and have been looking at dive options as well. Want to make sure we can get from the ship (Carnival Imagination) to the dive shop and back in time to board. We will be docked from 7a - 2:30p the day we are at GT. TIA!

[scubaran]

Socref, please post an update when you return from your April 19th cruise and who you ended up diving with at Grand Turk. We will be there in June and have been looking at dive options as well. Want to make sure we can get from the ship (Carnival Imagination) to the dive shop and back in time to board. We will be docked from 7a - 2:30p the day we are at GT. TIA!

 

Hi,

 

I was there in Nov. from 8:00AM until 2:30PM and I made it with no problems (same in April). If you go with Blue Water they are only 5 minutes from the ship going and 15 minutes returning. The cabs do a big circle from the ship to Cockburn Town and back and Blue Water is on the way into town so you have to go through town to get back. Anyway, they dive from like 9:00am - 12:30/1:00pm (depending on how much Mitch, the owner, talks between dives). Don't be shy to remind him of your schedule and he'll make sure you get back to shore in plenty of time. They only dive a few hundred yards off shore so it's a quick trip back.

 

r

[turtlegirl2]

Thanks for the info. How did you like the dive sites in Grand Turk? We have done all our diving in Cozumel with a few dives in the Keys and a great shark dive in Nassau two years ago. Excited to try out a new spot!

[scubaran]

Thanks for the info. How did you like the dive sites in Grand Turk? We have done all our diving in Cozumel with a few dives in the Keys and a great shark dive in Nassau two years ago. Excited to try out a new spot!

 

Grand Turk has excellent diving (there's little else to do on the island). The residents really understand that diving is a big part of their economy so they long ago put in restrictions to protect the reefs. The reefs are a fringing reef that surrounds the island and is located 200 yards off the shore. They start in about 20ft. and then dive down 3,000ft. on a steep wall. The diving takes place on the wall. You can stay on the top in 20-50ft. or go off the wall to any depth you feel comfortable with (as long as you don't go over 130ft. :) ). There is gobs of fish & creatures (seen at least one turtle on ever dive) and the corals are all healthy and thick. There's no current in Grand Turk so you won't get a free ride on a current like you get in Cozumel but the fish are very similar, but I think in larger quantities. I really enjoyed the diving there and I'll assume you will to.

 

You can see some of the pictures I took at my underwater photo website at http://www.randallgamby.com. The 2007 Caribbean gallery is a combination of Grand Turk and Bahamas. I've been working on a few websites for friends and haven't updated it lately so I have a lot more Grand Turk pictures to post.

 

Randall

[cb747]

Randall,

 

Your pictures are magnificant! Many thanks for sharing the info and pictures.

 

Chantal